Food - Drink
The Easiest Way To Ensure Perfectly Moist Fruitcake
By NATASHA BAILEY
While fruitcakes have a bad rap for being hard, dry, and so full of nuts and berries you could break a tooth, they're popular enough to have endured through centuries, from ancient Roman times to the Middle Ages to the present. The nice thing about making fruitcake today is that you can try out lots of tips to keep it moist instead of rock-hard.
Fruitcakes are typically made with flour or barley and flavorings like honey, wine, and fruit, but fat is also one of the most important ingredients. Butter, one of the most popular fats to use in cakes, actually doesn't work as well in a fruitcake; oil is a better choice, since it's lighter and made of pure, 100% fat for more moisture and tenderness.
Subtly-flavored canola oil works the best for most fruitcakes, but not in recipes that require an oven temperature above 425 degrees Fahrenheit, which is canola oil's smoke point. Other neutral vegetable oils can be used to add lightness, moisture, and tenderness to your fruitcake, and maybe even give this retro dessert a modern comeback.